Pastor in jail after coke, bank robbery arrest

JENNA-LEY HARRISON

Staff Writer

More than three weeks after a Lincolnton pastor was arrested on a cocaine charge in Florida, he remains behind bars awaiting extradition to South Carolina for accusations he robbed a bank there, according to the Chester Police Department.

Chester police, with aid from City of Gastonia police, the York County K-9 Unit and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), originally determined Dion Langley Marshall, 51, of 1865 Rockdam Creek Court, was in Gaston County, a Chester Police Department press release said.

After agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigations’ Florida office and Key West Police Department joined the investigation, law enforcement officers learned the suspect was in Key West, Fla.

Marshal was taken into custody around 11 p.m. on July 2.

He is accused of trying to rob the Spratt Savings & Loans in Chester, S.C., on June 27.

In the days following the alleged incident, media outlets in the Chester area circulated a picture of Marshall taken at the bank.

Police said the day before Marshall’s arrest, two people positively identified him as the man in the photo.

Charges filed against the Lincoln County man include possession of cocaine, entering a bank, depository or building and loan association with intent to steal and theft or solicitation of person using an automated teller machine.

Marshall serves as the pastor of Harvest Presbyterian Church in Lincolnton.